KEY INSIGHTS GLEANED ON SWEDEN TOUR

THE PREFABAUS TOUR OF SWEDEN PROVIDED VALUABLE INSIGHTS INTO THE WORLD’S MOST DEVELOPED PREFAB MARKET AND FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON HOW AUSTRALIA’S OFFSITE SECTOR MIGHT BE DEVELOPED. BELINDA SMART REPORTS.

Organised by prefabAUS in association with Bliss & Reels, the Melbourne based distributor of leading Swedish prefab machinery brand Randek, the tour ran from 7 to 11 May. It encompassed a broad cross section of the Swedish prefab industry, from ground breaking research at Linnaeus University and the city of Växjö – a living showcase of timber construction, to site, head office and factory visits including leading prefab housing brands such as Myresjöhus, BoKlok, Eksjöhus, Västkuststugan and Derome. It also featured a presentation and tour from leading machinery and automation company Randek.

With tour attendees including a range of industry representatives, from builders and developers to timber building suppliers, architects and academics, feedback demonstrated a high level of learning from the experience, along with scope for its application in the Australian context. Fraser Paxton is currently working on an MPhil leading to a PhD researching the ‘Design for lean manufacture of low cost housing’ at CAMP-H – Melbourne University. His self-named architecture practice has also developed a modular housing solution using structural insulated panels (SIPs). Paxton commented that “Swedish prefab is about 30 years beyond Australian Prefab.”

“The quality of their workmanship and their buildings surpasses anything we build here in Australia when it comes to building for thermal performance. Insulation is thicker, cut with precision to the frame, and caulking the frame to frame, to window, to every possible area where air might leak means lower running costs and better efficiency.”

“The use of timber, being widespread in Sweden, seems to allow for more customisation in the end product of a factory-produced building. It gives the building manufacturer scope to customise the product when prefabricating wall and floor sections to assemble into a house and also provides some reduction in the carbon footprint of a house compared with steel for example.” Paxton noted that in terms of construction techniques the Swedes were “far ahead of the game, in a global sense.”

“Mechanised processes of wall and floor production combined with efficient sub assembly feed in lines mean that the processes are able to move quickly, and in some cases produce a house every four days.”

Overall, Paxton said Swedish methods could be seen as representing best practice. “Within the production side of manufacturing buildings offsite, the wealth of knowledge we can learn from the Swedes and bring back home to improve things here is vast. The consensus amongst the group by the end of the prefabAUS led tour was that we should all work together to enhance a collective body of knowledge to improve Built Offsite practices here in Australia.”

“Within the production side of manufacturing buildings offsite, the wealth of knowledge we can learn from the Swedes and bring back home to improve things here is vast. The consensus amongst the group by the end of the prefabAUS led tour was that we should all work together to enhance a collective body of knowledge to improve Built Offsite practices here in Australia.” Fraser Paxton – Fraser Paxton Architects

Ashley Sladen, Managing Director of Bentley Homes, said he was struck by the level of acceptance of prefab / offsite methodologies in the Swedish market. “The Swedish market accepts wood as the predominant exterior cladding element and in general their home designs are really very simple, so prefabrication is a viable solution, combined with the weather conditions that make faster building on site more practical.

L-R: Fraser Paxton, A/Prof Tuan Ngo and Dr David Heath from the University of Melbourne’s CAMP.H.

The Australian market appears to have a higher proportion of double storey homes, with much more articulation in the design and more variation in the types of materials, so from a design perspective they’re like chalk and cheese.” Sladen added he was impressed with the Swedes’ level of efficiency. “Their manufacturing systems are very good and combined with a good degree of standardisation, which makes them quite efficient.”

In terms of integrating insights from the tour into his own business, Sladen said he was considering introducing greater design standardisation and the automation of walling systems “putting the frames, windows and wrap together and then installing these panels on site.”

Andre Griffs, Managing Director of Melbourne based company BINQ, which specialises in sustainable windows and doors, said a key observation for him was the strongly price-driven nature of the Swedish prefab market.

“This was evident in the general uniformity of designs and the lower quality of internal finishing. By comparison, the Australian market is quite varied in terms of choice of design across elements like layout, facade and fit-out.”

“I think the lack of design variation in the Swedish prefab market would not be accepted in the Australian market. I visited Germany immediately after the Sweden tour and found a very different output in their prefab market. Significant design variations were present and the finish quality was very high, giving me confidence that the idea of prefab houses in principle has a place in the Australian market.”

David Haller, National Operations Manager MPC – Construction, Mirvac, noted a key takeaway from the tour was differing priorities between Swedish and Australian customers.

“The Swedish customer is predominantly driven by the thermal performance of the home. This was evident in the fact that Swedish homes spend the majority of building costs on the external structure, using 240 mm wide walls and triple glazed windows and ensuring the external structure is very airtight to guarantee the highest level of thermal performance. As most of the cost is spent on thermal performance, there is minimal cost attributed to façade treatment and internal and external finishes and fittings. This is quite the opposite with the Australian customer, where we spend the majority of construction cost on façade treatments as well as internal and external finishes and fittings and only as much as we need to for external structures.”

“I believe that in Australia as affordability of homes becomes more difficult, customers will start to accept a more standardised home design which will allow for more prefabrication. I also learned from the Swedish tour that there is a very important need to spend more time on preconstruction design/buildability to allow for the most cost efficient house design that can be manufactured offsite more cost effectively.”

“I believe that in Australia as affordability of homes becomes more difficult, customers will start to accept a more standardised home design which will allow for more prefabrication. I also learned from the Swedish tour that there is a very important need to spend more time on preconstruction design/buildability to allow for the most cost efficient house design that can be manufactured offsite more cost effectively.” David Haller – Mirvac

Sydney based architect Bradley Wahl indicated that learnings from the tour could be practically applied in the Australian setting.

“Although our technology and building materials may differ from those in Sweden, I see potential for utilising the construction systems that were used in the Swedish factories. The idea of producing buildings more efficiently, more sustainably, more safely and without compromising quality, was reinforced.”

“Sweden’s building materials, level and quality of finish are different to the product expected in Australia, however I feel the Swedes are more practical than the more ‘superficial’ Australian client. Here we look for slick finishes, smooth transitions and extra space and light where the Swedes seem more concerned with what is going into the wall, floor and roof construction in order to make comfortable spaces. I also think that we can achieve the required finishes and architectural design expected by the Australian market using prefabrication. In fact we may be able to achieve a better, faster and more affordable product using prefab.”

“Sweden’s building materials, level and quality of finish are different to the product expected in Australia, however I feel the Swedes are more practical than the more ‘superficial’ Australian client. Here we look for slick finishes, smooth transitions and extra space and light where the Swedes seem more concerned with what is going into the wall, floor and roof construction in order to make comfortable spaces.” Bradley Wahl – Architect.

Wahl concluded that the tour had helped further shape his plans for working within the offsite space. “I’m hoping to link up with businesses that are currently using systems of off-site or prefabricated building to establish a business or consultancy. Alternatively I’d like to use my experience and knowledge gained to work for a company utilising this type of building technology.”■